Tabatière - Snuff Box Bread

Tabatière, or Snuff Box Bread, is a flavorful loaf of bread that gets its name because if looks like a snuff box with a lid. In France, tabatière actually means "snuff box."

I am making this bread with the Bread Baking Babes and our host kitchen is Cathy of Bread Experience. She adapted this bread recipe from the book, The Larousse Book of Bread by Eric Kayser. 

This loaf begins with a poolish, which you can make either with a tiny amount of instant yeast or active sourdough starter. The final dough also includes a small amount of instant yeast, mostly so you can gain some consistency in rising times. You can definitely tasted a hint of sourdough flavor that develops in the poolish over serveral hours, even if you don't use a starter. 

Make this bread if you're looking for something that isn't too complicated to make and brings a lot of flavor. The biggest challenge is trying to keep the flap on top from sticking during the final rise. Mine definitely stuck to the loaf, but still maintained the "look" of being folded over. I've made some loaves with "flaps" that ended up retreating or sticking straight up during baking, so I'm just fine with it sticking a bit. 

You can make one smallish loaf with the dough, or divide it into two, three, or four pieces (for individual servings). 

Ingredients:

Flours: I used unbleached bread flour and whole spelt flour (about 20%) for the dough, along with rye flour for dusting under the dough flap. Next time, I might try using wheat bran for dusting to see if helps keep the flap separated. It's always been great for dusting the cloth for lining a proofing basket to prevent sticking. For the spelt flour, you could substitute whole wheat flour or whole rye flour. Each one adds another dimension to the flavor and dough texture. 

Water: Start with 150 grams of cool water, and add more if your whole grain flour you are using is particulary thirsty. 

Salt: I used Diamond Crystal kosher salt. If you use table salt, use about half as much. 

Instant Yeast: Definitely in the bread dough, and possibly in the poolish if you don't maintain a sourdough starter. 

Sourdough Starter: If you have one, for the poolish. If you don't have one, no worries. 

Process to Make This Bread:

First, make the poolish the night before, cover it, and let it sit for about 12 to 14 hours. 

The next day, mix the flours and water and let in autolyse for about an hour. Then, mix in the rest of the dough ingredients, including the poolish, and give the dough two to three stretch and fold sessions, every thirty minutes. Then, let the dough rise until doubled. 

After that, divide the dough into two, three, or four pieces if you are making more than one loaf. I made just one loaf, mostly so we could use it for toast and sandwiches and because more time in the oven helped with the browning of the crust. 

Shape the dough, including the flap, and proof the final dough, flap side down. 

Finally, score the flap with a leaf pattern, like fougasse, and bake the bread in a 450 degree F oven with steam or in a Dutch oven. Let cool to room temperature before slicing. 

Make Ahead:

Once the bread has cooled completely, you can wrap the loaf in foil and then plastic wrap and freezed it for up to 30 days. If you want to use the bread for toast or sandwiches, you can slice it before freezing and remove it from the freezer, one slice at a time. It can be toasted straight from the freezer. 

Variations and Tips for Success:

If you have a sourdough starter that needs refreshing, you can use some of it in your poolish along with the instant yeast. You'll get the boost of flavor from the inactive starter and the help that your poolish needs with the bit of instant yeast. 

If you've misjudged the amount of extra water you will need, you can simply add a bit more flour the the final dough. 

Once you've mastered this bread, you can begin experimenting with adding extras such as roasted peppers, grated cheese, and various seeds of your choice, both in the loaf and on the crust. 

These instructions include using a baking stone with a steam pan. To make this bread in a preheated Dutch oven, remove the lid after ten minds and continue baking. Skip the steam pan. 

For rolling out the flaps, I love using a small rolling pin, one you might use to make wonton wrappers or Asian-style dumplings. 

If you have any questions, just drop me a line in the comments. 

Bread Baking Babes: 

Bread Experience – Cathy (our host kitchen)
Karen’s Kitchen Stories – Karen (that's me!)
A Messy Kitchen – Kelly
Judy’s Gross Eats – Judy
My Kitchen in Half Cups – Tanna
blog from OUR kitchen – Elizabeth

 

Tabatière - Snuff Box Bread

Yield: 16 slices

Author: Karen Kerr

Prep time: 45 MinCook time: 30 MinInactive time: 16 HourTotal time: 17 H & 15 M

Tabatière, or Snuff Box Bread, is a flavorful loaf of bread that gets its name because if looks like a snuff box with a lid. In France, tabatière actually means "snuff box."

Ingredients

For the Poolish

• 60 grams bread flour
• 60 grams cool water
• a pinch of instant yeast (1/4 teaspoon) or about 12 g of active sourdough starter I actually used both and cut back on the amount of instant yeast

Final Dough

• 195 grams bread flour flour
• 45 grams whole rye, whole wheat, or whole spelt flour
• 150 grams cool water, plus 25 to 30 grams more for extra thirsty whole grain or home-milled flours
• 6 grams salt
• ¼ teaspoon instant yeast
• All of the poolish
• rye flour for dusting

Instructions

To Make the Poolish

1. The night before making the bread, in a small bowl, mix the poolish ingredients.
2. Cover the bowl and let rest at room temperature, 12 to 14 hours.

To Make the Final Loaf/Loaves

1. Mix the flours and water. Let it rest, covered, for one hour.
2. Add the poolish, salt, and yeast, and mix by hand to achieve a shaggy dough. Stretch and fold the dough over itself in the bowl immediately, cover, and let rest for 30 minutes.
3. Next, perform two more stretch and folds 30 minutes apart. Then, rest the dough, covered, for about 1 to 2 hours, until doubled.
4. While I made one loaf, if you are making more, divide the dough in half or in quarters. Shape each piece into a ball, seam side down. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes.
5. On a lightly floured surface, using a roller, stretch one third of the pre-shaped dough on the side. Roll it out to form a flap large enough to fold completely back over the top. Dust the underside of the flap with rye flour and fold it back over the top.
6. Proof with the flap down on a floured dish towel for 1 to 1½ hours, covered, until puffy. Check it early and often in case it takes less time.
7. Set up you oven with a pizza stone, baking steel, or cast iron pizza pan on the middle rack, and a broiler pan on the bottom rack. Heat your oven to 450 degrees F.
8. Carefully flip the dough onto a lightly floured parchment sheet so the the flap is now on top. Score with a leaf pattern, like fougasse. Pour about a quarter cup of hot water into the preheated broiler pan to create steam. Transfer the loaf, parchment and all, and bake at 450°F, about 30 minutes for one loaf, and less time for smaller loaves. If your oven has convection, turn it on for the final five minutes to help the crust brown.
9. The final loaf should be about 205 degrees F in the interior. Cool the loaf to room temperature on a wire rack before slicing.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

99

Fat (grams)

1 g

Sat. Fat (grams)

0 g

Carbs (grams)

20 g

Fiber (grams)

2 g

Net carbs

18 g

Sugar (grams)

3 g

Protein (grams)

3 g

Cholesterol (grams)

2 mg

https://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2026/08/tabatiere-snuff-box-bread.html

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